Disabled people are not equal to normal people. Unfortunately, this is thought to be true in our society where people are judged on how “normal” they are. This is clearly demonstrated in the novel Of Mice and Men by Steinbeck, the article Using the Word ‘Retard’ to Describe Me Hurts by Stevens and the monologue A Lesson for Everyone by Whoopi Goldberg. In Of Mice and Men, Steinbeck describes the challenges faced by disabled characters in the story as they attempt to live a successful life on a barley farm. Lennie, who has a mental disability, is treated like a child and looked at with disdain. Physically disabled Crooks and Candy are looked at as worthless and weak by the other “normal” ranch hands. The article, Using the Word Retard Offends Me, was written by Stevens, a 26 year old man who was born with Down Syndrome. He recounts several examples when he was obviously shown contempt or unworthiness because of his disorder especially through the use of the word “retard”. A Lesson for Everyone is a monologue performed by Whoopi Goldberg in which she plays a physically disabled person. Throughout the story, we see how society’s perception of her disability causes her to become alienated from the rest of the “normal” people. All of these sources show that the only thing disabled people want is to not to be looked at as disabled, as something to feel sorry for, but as humans who are no different than the rest of us.
The two essays “On Being a Cripple” by Nancy Mairs and “A Plague of Tics” by David Sedaris are excellent pieces of work that share many similarities. This paper would reflect on these similarities particularly in terms of the author, message and the targeted audience. On an everyday basis, people view those with disabilities in a different light and make them conscious at every step. This may be done without a conscious realisation but then it is probably human nature to observe and notice things that deviate from the normal in a society. In a way people are conditioned to look negatively at those individuals who are different in the conventional
As human beings, we like to make sure never to offend or judge anyone. We even have sayings like “never judge a book by its cover”. A metaphor that is often said whenever trying not to judge someone based on their outward appearance; however, it is not often that people practice what they preach. We judge people based on external factors within seconds. Even though we know what people see on the outside is not a defining factor or who we are as people. Nancy Mairs, author of On Being a Cripple, has to live through this every day. She knows this truth very well, and lives proudly with the fact that as she is disabled. Mairs is admirable for choosing to call herself a “cripple” and not be ashamed of it. Though the word is derogatory and a word that is avoided by society, Mairs identifies herself as a cripple because that is what she is. In explaining her disability, she says, “I haven’t always been crippled, ... to be whole of limb is ... infinitely more pleasant and useful. and if that knowledge leaves me open to bitterness … the physical soundness I once enjoyed is well worth the occasional stab of regret” (Mairs 186). What really
Retard,’ we heard her say, and Margaret wilted” (118). This shows that she has been in situations where the word “retard” affected a person with mental disabilities, in this case her own daughter. To the reader this goes straight to their heart, making them feel bad for everything they have ever used the word “retard”. Later in the argument she show the word not only affects her daughter, but also anyone that cares about her daughter. She says, “For my daughter and my family, it’s more like a grenade, and we’re the collateral damage”. This explains that whenever the word “retard” is used, it’s not only hurts people with mental disabilities but also anyone that cares about people with mental disabilities. Then she goes into how she understands that people, usually aren’t trying to be rude or hurtful, that they are “just joking” or “didn’t mean it like that” but regardless of how it’s meant, it’s still hurtful to the people who are affected by mental disabilities on a daily basis. Falling back on to pathos again, she names of a handful of ways she’s heard “retard” in her day to day life. She says, “A clerk in a store apologizes for being ‘such a retard’... Ouch. Kids at the mall call one another ‘you big retard.’ Ouch. A friend tells a … story…about her recent fender bender, with a punchline about ‘some
Nancy Mairs, born in 1943, described herself as a radical feminist, pacifist, and cripple. She is crippled because she has multiple sclerosis (MS), which is a chronic disease involving damage to the nerve cells and spinal cord. In her essay Disability, Mairs’ focus is on how disabled people are portrayed, or rather un-portrayed in the media. There is more than one audience that Mairs could have been trying to reach out to with this piece. The less-obvious audience would be disabled people who can connect to her writing because they can relate to it. The more obvious audience would be physically-able people who have yet to notice the lack of disabled people being portrayed by the media. Her purpose is to persuade the audience that disabled people should be shown in the media more often, to help society better cope with and realize the presence of handicapped people. Mairs starts off by saying “For months now I’ve been consciously searching for representation of myself in the media, especially television. I know I’d recognize this self becaus...
They are human beings determined to make something good in their lives. Across the world, people with disabilities have poorer health outcomes, lower education achievements, less economic participation and higher rates of poverty than people without
Most people feel relatively uncomfortable when they meet someone with an obvious physical disability. Usually, the disability seems to stand out in ones mind so much that they often forget the person is still a person. In turn, their discomfort is likely to betray their actions, making the other person uncomfortable too. People with disabilities have goals, dreams, wants and desires similar to people without disabilities. Andre Dubus points out very clearly in his article, "Why the Able-bodied Still Don't Get It," how people's attitudes toward "cripples" effect them. It's is evident that although our society has come a long way with excepting those with physical disabilities, people do not understand that those with physical disabilities are as much human as the next person
In this work Nancy Mairs, a woman with multiple sclerosis, discusses why she calls herself a cripple as opposed to the other names used by society to describe people with disabilities. She prefers the word “cripple” over the words “disabled” and “handicapped”. Nancy Mairs presents herself as a cripple using a straightforward tone, negative diction, repetition, and logical/ethical appeal.
Her response was, “If I can’t do the stunts, then neither can the character” (Zayid, 2013). We often see attempts at accurately portraying disabled people in the media when shows like Parenthood (2010) bring in professionals (e.g., behaviour therapists) to coach their actors on how to behave like a disabled person, instead of consulting with or casting a disabled person to play the part. Herein lies the issue of non-disabled people acting or thinking they truly understand what it is like to have a
In” Disabling Imagery in the media “Barnes asserts,“Disabled people are rarely shown as integral and productive members of the community; as students, as teachers, as part of the work-force or as parents. “(11). Popular culture excludes women with disabilities because they are different. Through Joanne’s character, Nussbaum demonstrates how women with disabilities operate in their daily lives.Nussbaum description of Joanne’s daily routine shows that women with Nussbaum 's character Joanne also demonstrates how women with disabilities are not burdens on
Under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) a person is considered to have a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment that limits one or more major life functions. A disability can occur from genetics or an injury later in life. Those who suffer from any type of disability should be considered as sacred and valuable to society. They are the very innocence of our world. Most people with a disability live not knowing deceit, lies, hurt or pain.
Disability: Any person who has a mental or physical deterioration that initially limits one or more major everyday life activities. Millions of people all over the world, are faced with discrimination, the con of being unprotected by the law, and are not able to participate in the human rights everyone is meant to have. For hundreds of years, humans with disabilities are constantly referred to as different, retarded, or weird. They have been stripped of their basic human rights; born free and are equal in dignity and rights, have the right to life, shall not be a victim of torture or cruelty, right to own property, free in opinion and expression, freedom of taking part in government, right in general education, and right of employment opportunities. Once the 20th century
The first thought that crosses the mind of an able-bodied individual upon seeing a disabled person will undoubtedly pertain to their disability. This is for the most part because that is the first thing that a person would notice, as it could be perceived from a distance. However, due to the way that disability is portrayed in the media, and in our minds, your analysis of a disabled person rarely proceeds beyond that initial observation. This is the underlying problem behind why disabled people feel so under appreciated and discriminated against. Society compartmentalizes, and in doing so places the disabled in an entirely different category than fully able human beings. This is the underlying theme in the essays “Disability” by Nancy Mairs, “Why the Able-Bodied Just Don’t Get it” by Andre Dubus, and “Should I Have Been Killed at Birth?” by Harriet Johnson.
Perhaps one of the biggest detriments to the disabled is being viewed or treated as being different. This needs to be recognized by friends and family members early and they need to treat the person same way as they did before the disability and include them into social events as would have been before. In doing so, they make the person feel much less isolated due to their disability. Through the bad days and good, those supporting them must be there for them at all times as the rebuilding process may not be an easy one. This is a great coping mechanism because the person will never be alone and they will never have to worry about not being able to do something, or falling, as their family and friends will be right there to pick them up.
People with disabilities often face societal barriers and disability evokes negative perceptions and discrimination in society. As a result of the stigma associated with disability, persons with disabilities are generally excluded from education, employment, and community life, which deprives them of opportunities essential to their social development, health and well-being (Stefan). It is such barriers and discrimination that actually set people apart from society, in many cases making them a burden to the community. The ideas and concepts of equality and full participation for persons with disabilities have been developed very far on paper, but not in reality (Wallace). The government can make numerous laws against discrimination, but this does not change the way that people with disabilities are judged in society.
People with disabilities are still people, they are people with hearts and they are actual physical beings; people with disabilities do their best to live every day to their fullest, yet that is still not enough for others. I feel like as a whole, humans are generally uncomfortable with people who have disabilities. Let’s think of it this way, people live their life every day in their normal lives and then they come across a person with a disability and suddenly their life is interrupted, like it is such a barrier in their flow of life to come across someone different from themselves.